Facebook / Meta, Sweden

Project details

Industries

Data centres

Products

Condair HP, Condair ME, Condair MC

Technologies

Adiabatic in duct humidification

Condair humidifies Facebook

Facebook’s data center in Luleå Sweden is one of the world’s most efficient and sustainable data centers. It is powered with locally generated hydro-electric energy and uses the cold Nordic air to cool the servers that store Facebook users‘ photos, videos, comments and likes.

In keeping with its state-of-the-art efficiency, the facility is using our low energy high-pressure spray system and our reliable evaporative humidifiers to maintain the humidity inside its data halls.

Peter Liddle, associate at Cundall, one of the consulting M&E engineers for the project, explains, “Facebook Luleå is employing a direct air cooling strategy within their data halls, which uses the cold outside air to maintain the required internal temperature. Luleå’s cold dry climate means that humidification is an essential component within the air conditioning process as without it the internal humidity could drop as low as 2%RH.

“This low level of humidity would be unhealthy for staff and present an increased risk to the servers from electrostatic discharge.”

Once the cold outside air is brought into the building, it is mixed with hot air recirculated from the data halls, raising the temperature but reducing its humidity. 78 spray and evaporative humidifiers then add up to 6,023.1 gallons of water per hour to the air stream flowing through the building’s “penthouse ventilation” systems. This produces the ideal humidity while lowering the temperature back to the required supply condition for introduction to the data halls.

Condair humidifiers deliver this huge volume of moisture to the atmosphere while consuming just 90kW/h of electrical energy in total.

The outside air can be directly used for climate control

Peter Liddle continues, “As the required temperature inside the data halls is between 64.4-84.2°F and Luleå’s climate rarely exceeds this, even on hot summer days the outside air can be directly used for climate control. As the data center incorporates no traditional (dx) air conditioning, were the outside conditions ever to rise above 84.2°F, the humidifiers could also be used to provide low energy supplementary cooling.”

Condair's involvement in the Luleå data center project brought together the design and manufacturing expertise of two members of the Condair Group. The high-pressure spray systems were manufactured in Denmark while Condair’s manufacturing facility in the UK produced the evaporative humidifiers. Engineering teams from both countries worked alongside each other to commission the equipment.

Condair’s work at Facebook Luleå data center exemplifies how well placed the organization is to meet the humidification and cooling needs of the rapidly growing, global data center market.

Peter Liddle, associate at Cundall

“Facebook Luleå is employing a direct air cooling strategy within their data halls, which uses the cold outside air to maintain the required internal temperature. Luleå’s cold dry climate means that humidification is an essential component within the air conditioning process as without it, the internal humidity could drop as low as 2%RH."

Condair in Action

Projects and references

Microsoft, Ireland

Microsoft Dublin uses an "open air cooling" system rather than mechanical chillers to maintain the low internal temperatures required around its servers. Fresh air is continuously introduced into the building and mixed with recirculated indoor air.

35 Condair evaporative humidifiers provide up to 8C of energy-efficient evaporative cooling to its huge data rooms. This combined use of fresh air and evaporative cooling has enabled the data centre to eliminate the need for mechanical cooling for 95% of the year.

Cork Internet Exchange, Ireland

The Condair ME evaporative humidifier is providing adiabatic cooling in an innovative indirect cooling system at the Cork Internet Exchange (CIX) in Ireland. An indirect air-to-air evaporative cooling system maintains the temperature across CIX's data halls without using any chillers and with 75% less energy than a traditionally cooled data centre.

Low energy humidification at Fujitsu Data Centre in London, UK

Condair low energy JetSpray humidifier is providing electrostatic control to the award winning Fujitsu data centre in North London. Having employed many energy saving and IT optimisation strategies, Fujitsu North London conserved the energy equivalent of 6,000 homes per year and won Most Sustainable Refurbishment at the Building Services Awards 2008.

One of these energy saving strategies was to use heat recovered from the data halls to evaporate cold water sprays, rather than use energy-hungry steam humidifiers, to humidify the fresh air entering the data centre.